John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is simply not good enough. In the Government's own high-level action plan for the implementation of the commission's recommendations, the low-hanging fruit was considered to be the bringing forward of heads of a Bill with regard to the working time directive. The Tánaiste now tells me that work has not even started. The Government's legislative programme for the spring does not even mention the drafting of such legislation as a priority. There is little or no faith in the Government's willingness or ability to implement any of the recommendations of the commission's report, particularly when its own high-level action plan is not being implemented. We were told that the heads of a Bill with regard to the working time directive would be brought forward within six months with a view to submitting them to the Attorney General but work has not even commenced. Will the Tánaiste indicate how long it will take for work to commence on the heads of Bill and when we will actually see them? More importantly and with regard to conversations with the representative bodies, what kinds of exemptions are being looked at because they are adamant that the directive needs to be fully implemented?

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